Tucson Arizona State Office Building Design and Construction

The new State Office Building completes the development of the state property located on West Congress Street in down-town Tucson. The two existing buildings are similar in mass, but dissimilar in architectural style. Despite of the differences and similarities the Tucson Arizona state office building is a masterpiece of design and architecture.

The building utilizes a large floor plate of 27,000 square feet for increased flexibility. A 9,000-square-foot open-air atrium links the new building to the older structure at the south-east corner of the site; this atrium becomes the site’s major orientation feature. The atrium also serves to shade the south-facing windows without interrupting views to the south (these offices also have views into the atrium). From the atrium, the visitor can go directly into the lobby of the new building, to the older State Office Building, to the meeting room on the second floor via the atrium stairway, or down the atrium stair to the cafeteria.

Architectural Elements and Features

The curved wall on the north side of the building:

1) forms a termination for the view westward along Alameda Street,
2) expresses the opening up of the building to the mountain views to the northeast, and
3) permits a smooth, uninterrupted shaping of the building along the property line that effortlessly maximises floor area.

Construction Material and Details

The primary material is red brick veneer in the same shape and colour as the east and west walls of the existing State Building to which the new building is attached. This creates a unified facade for the two buildings when they are seen together from the east and west. The atrium is steel-framed with aluminium louvres, panelling and architectural detail. The curving wall is patterned in red and cream coloured brick the cream colour is consistent with the colouration of the apartment house directly adjacent to the north and the other structures in the area. Insulated low “E” glass and a reflective insulated glass in the ribbon windows is used.

This building combines traditional brick detailing found in the locale of the building with an original and seemingly spontaneous pattern of brick as its signature design element. This is meant to be a new building that comfortably coexists with older structures The traditional brick elements, headers, arches, copings, sills, etc, are simple but abstract. Likewise, the patterned curving brick wall is detailed flush, and combined with other brick details gives the building a sense of modernity.